


The Pretty Boys' Coffee Shop

by brezelbruder



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, How Do I Tag, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Light Angst, M/M, Mentioned WayV Ensemble, Minor Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Romantic Comedy, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27630608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brezelbruder/pseuds/brezelbruder
Summary: Lucas works at a coffee shop on his uni campus together with his homies Kun, Hendery and Yangyang.One day, a super cute student enters the shop and orders an iced coffee.Lucas ends up falling for him, but the other boy is oblivious. Luckily, his chaotic™ friends are here to help - more or less. They're trying, okay?!aka: Lucas is whipped 4 Winwin.My first romantic fanfic y'all, don't expect too much.Also, Xiaojun/Yangyang and Kun/Ten are canon in this AU ~
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Liu Yang Yang/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	1. A Day in the Life of Wong Yukhei

"Oh. My. God. I just saw THE cutest guy at the bus stop!", Yangyang yells even before he's inside the coffee shop. 

Lucas, Kun and Hendery collectively roll their eyes. "Oh. My. God. Yangyang, I swear if you don't stop simping over EVERY guy you see, Xiaojun's gonna kick your ass to the curb", Hendery kindly replies. 

Lucas can't help laughing out loud. Yangyang frowns and says: "I'm obviously not serious, Xiaojun is always gonna be my darling..." 

"Alright, I think that's quite enough of that discussion", Kun steps in, "Yangyang, Yukhei, Hendery, get to work! We're opening in 8 minutes." 

The boys more or less reluctantly comply and get busy cleaning tables and readying the coffee machines. While Yangyang is still trying to explain to Hendery that he's 1000% loyal to Xiaojun, the little bell at the door chimes. 

"Welco- oh, speak of the devil", Hendery greets their first customer. 

Xiaojun skeptically raises one of his perfect eyebrows. 

"JUNJUNNN!", Yangyang squeals and runs around the counter to adequately greet his boyfriend. Adequately meaning hugging, kissing and not letting go for a minute.

Xiaojun, seemingly taken aback by this love attack, stutters a "h-hey, Yangyang..." before he can free himself from the taller boy's affectionate embrace. Yangyang happily pats his fluffy hair and reassumes his position behind the counter. 

"What can I get ya?", he asks. "Oh, uhm, I actually just came by to say hi-"   
"Bars", Hendery throws in, and Xiaojun continues: "but I guess green tea latte?"

Yangyang gets on making the desired drink and Xiaojun finds a seat at the small table closest to the counter.   
"So, what was that about when I came in, Hendery?", he asks casually. Hendery and Yangyang exchange glances, Yangyang's face saying something like "if you wanna live to a healthy age you'll be quiet now". 

"O-oh, nothing. Yangyang was just gushing about how cute you are", Hendery answers nervously even though that's not even wrong. Lucas slaps his bro on the shoulder and cackles. 

Yangyang nods happily and Xiaojun blushes bright pink. Kun smiles, shaking his head as if to say "oh, you guys", when the door opens again. 

"Hi, Ten!", Lucas says brightly to welcome the second customer of the day, his hands busy cleaning a small espresso cup. 

Ten waves at them giddily before stepping up to the counter to greet Kun with a peck on the cheek. "Can you get me an iced coffee, hun?", he purrs and Kun instantly gets on it. 

"You see, Yangyang, that's how you NORMALLY greet your boyfriend", Hendery comments snappily. Yangyang just shrugs and arranges some cups on the shelf behind him. 

Ten plants his slender body next to Xiaojun and says to no one in particular: "So, when are you finally gonna redecorate this place?"  
And before anyone can protest, he adds: "I mean, it looks like a family diner nightmare in here. These wallpapers are ridiculous, who picked them out?" 

Kun sighs. Ten has been complaining about the coffee shop's interior design for about a month now, and everyone lowkey agrees with him: the walls looks hideous, the plants are dying and the tables are something straight out of a haunted fast food restaurant. 

"Well, the wallpaper was already like that when I took over management and if SOMEONE would stop dumping the coffee grounds in the fern pots, MAYBE we'd have a little touch of green here and there", Kun says while maintaining eye contact with Hendery. 

"I'm sorry, but we don't even have a trash can! Where else should I-", he tries to defend himself but Lucas cuts him off: "What? We totally have a trash can, bro!" 

And he points to the bucket next to the counter that has a sticky note glued to it.

Hendery kneels down and reads out loud: " 'Trash'. Great, bro, but WHY IS IT SEALED SHUT??" 

Before a confused looking Lucas has a chance to collect his thoughts, Ten interrupts: "I think that's the least of your problems, guys. Your shop doesn't even have a proper name! Everyone just calls you 'the coffee shop next to the archeology faculty where the pretty boys work'. Is that really the image y'all are going for?" 

The staff look at each other, then to the floor and Kun mumbles: "I guess you have a point..." 

Ten nods, seemingly satisfied. "Accepting your problems is the first step to self-improvement", he says pseudo-philosophically and adds: "I can help you redecorate on the weekend if you wanna. You'll need a professional for this hellhole. Xiaojun, you're coming too?"

Xiaojun nods and takes a sip of his coffee. "Sure thing, just don't make me paint anything. Can't get my hands dirty cuz I got a photoshoot on Monday." 

"Oh right! You'll do great, Junjun~ And you need to send me the pics this time, okay?", Yangyang says giddily. 

"Ah, well... I don't think I can do that, but we can check out the catalog later...", his boyfriend replies and nervously takes another sip of his coffee. 

"I can't believe that super weird modeling gig actually worked out for ya", Hendery comments and instantly earns himself a clap back from Yangyang. "It's not weird! It's- uhh, what was it again, Junjun?" 

Xiaojun sighs. "It's hand and feet modeling for jewelry... To be honest, my boss is a little weir-" 

Yangyang cuts him off. "See? Jewelry. Not weird at all." 

"Uhh, I think you missed the part where he said FEET MODELING, thank you very much. The only people reading those catalogs are pervy old men if you ask me. Remember that episode of Family Guy where Meg becomes a foot model for a porn site? That's all I can think of when Xiaojun recites his job description", Hendery argues but Yangyang doesn't want to hear it. 

"But then that's YOUR problem! There's nothing pervy about your job, is there, Junjun?" He inquisitively stares at his boyfriend who avoids eye contact and mumbles: "Well..." 

Hendery chuckles triumphantly and before Yangyang can say another word, Kun steps in. "Enough, you guys! There may not be any customers here right now-", Ten and Xiaojun raise their eyebrows, "-but we STILL need to be professional at all times. So no talking about Xiaojun's porn catalog!" 

"It's not a porn catalo-", Yangyang starts, but he is cut off by the door opening again.

"Welcome!", Lucas says as he's (surprisingly enough) the first one to go back into professional barista mode. 

The student who just came through the door smiles nervously and walks up to the counter to place his order. 

Next to him Lucas can hear Yangyang whisper: "Oh, he's cute!" and he kinda has to agree: with his fluffy blonde hair and his adorable babyface, their customer gives off a lost puppy kinda vibe which Lucas so very much digs. 

Ever the flirt, the tall boy flashes him his brightest smile and asks: "What can I get ya, sweetie?" 

His customer's face turns beet red and he stutters: "U-uhh, can I get an iced coffee to go, please?" 

"Sure thing! What's your name?", Lucas says and upon noticing the boy's flustered look, he adds with a wink: "So I can write it on the cup and call you when it's done." 

The shorter boy looks around the coffee shop only to be greeted with customer-free tables and two people who already have their coffee. Out of politeness, he doesn't bother to comment on it and says: "It's Sicheng." 

Lucas grins brightly. "Sicheng, huh? Cool name, bro. I'm Lucas! Just sit tight while I get ya your coffee!" 

Sicheng nods with a shy smile and finds his place at the table next to Xiaojun and Ten's.

Lucas gets busy making the iced coffee and Yangyang turns up the music to a borderline unhealthy volume. Of course, his motives become clear the next second. 

"Omg, Lucas. He's totally into you", Yangyang whispers directly into Lucas' ear.

"What?! No way. He's just flustered by my handsome face is all", Lucas shrugs it off.

"But YOU'RE totally into HIM!", Yangyang persists. 

"He's pretty cute", Lucas thinks out loud while pouring the finished drink into a paper cup and Yangyang immediately jumps on it: "Then try and get his number!"   
And he snatches the cup out of a protesting Lucas' hand to scribble on it with sharpie.

When he's done, he giggles and places it on the counter in front of Lucas who picks it up and reads out loud: "For Sicheng. Btw, do you know what my shirt is made of?" For the lack of an immediate answer, he turns the cup around only to see "Boyfriend material." written on its backside.

"Yangyang!", he hisses. Yangyang winks at him and turns the music back down. 

Lucas decides to redo the whole thing, but when he looks over at Sicheng, he notices the other boy's questioning glare.   
Way. Too. Cute. 

He sighs, shrugs and places the cup back on the counter. "Sicheng, come get your delicious, homemade drink!", he says and his customer gets up to do exactly that. 

Hendery and Kun, who have been watching the whole time, pretend to be cleaning the shelves while paying the utmost attention to the next developments. Yangyang bounces up and down in anticipation, Ten and Xiaojun pretend to not have heard anything and Lucas' heart pounds a little too loud.

Sicheng steps up to the counter and hands Lucas the money. "Thank you!", he says with an adorable little smile and carefully takes the cup into both hands. Lucas melts a little. 

"Pleasure doin' business with ya, come again!", he says as Sicheng steps outside to hurry to his next lecture. The shorter boy nods happily and walks away. 

After a couple seconds of silence, Yangyang bursts out into laughter. "Oh my god, Lucas, you really gave him that cup!" 

Lucas blinks. "Well, yeah", he replies, "you think he'll like it?" 

Yangyang wipes a tear from his eye and gasps for air. "No!" 

Hendery cackles. "Brooo, seriously? You let Yangyang write a pick up line on his cup?" 

Lucas grins, a little embarrassed. "Well, I guess that one's on me", he says and Kun shakes his head. "It is. I won't be surprised if he never comes here again", he nags and Ten nods in silent agreement. 

Xiaojun just sighs, gets up and behind the counter and gives Yangyang a flick on the forehead. "Ow ow ow, Junjun! What was that for?", Yangyang squeals and pretends to be deadly injured. 

"Oh come on, drama queen, you know full well what you did! You ruined Xuxi's chances with that cute kid!" 

Yangyang shakes his head and says: "Oh no, he'll be back. Trust me. I have a feeling." 

Hendery rolls his eyes. "Dude, just like that one time when you 'had a feeling' you'd ace the biology quiz and got a D? Or when you 'were sure' Xiaojun was gonna LOVE your birthday present?" 

Yangyang opens his mouth to protest, closes it again to overthink his clap back, and then says: "Well, who could've guessed he wouldn't love my present..." 

Hendery sighs. "Dude. Seriously. Who would want a free nude photoshoot for their birthday. That was essentially just a present for yourself." 

Yangyang looks to the floor and Xiaojun says: "Liu Yangyang and his ulterior motives... I threw it out by the way, no way I'm gonna do that kinda stuff." 

"But you do foot porn regardless", Hendery mentions and Xiaojun simply replies by chucking his cup at him.


	2. The Father, The Son and The Holy Kun

Lucas is sitting in his sports theory lecture and he's bored out of his mind.   
His desk is already filled with cute doodles and scribbles while his notepad has two unfinished bullet points quickly smeared on it.

The only reason he's taking this dumb class is because of his father's expectations. He wants his son to become a professional basketball player, while Lucas' dream of being a model goes completely ignored.

He makes the plan to ask if Xiaojun has any connections at some point, even though he doesn't necessarily want someone perving on his feet.

He sighs and looks at the clock: 11:57 A.M. His shift at the coffee shop is going to start in three minutes and he'll probably be late because the professor ALWAYS overextends his classes. 

Should he just sneak out? Or say he needs to go to the bathroom and just not return? Both very enticing possibilities, he must admit, but he just ends up whipping out his phone to check his texts instead. 

Apparently, the apocalypse happened over at the coffee shop because the baristas' group chat is blowing up:

「 Bo$$man (10:46 a.m.): Guys, the espresso machine is broken. I'm calling a repair guy.

GangGang (10:46 a.m.): omg it was probably hendery ＼(◎o◎)／

Best Bro™ (10:47 a.m.): wtf u on about

GangGang (10:47 a.m.): thats exactly what the culprit would say lmfao

Bo$$man (10:47 a.m.): It's not a huge deal. Please calm down, you two.

GangGang (10:47 a.m.): I can fix it kun leave it to me (^^♪)

Best Bro™ (10:47 a.m.): oh sweet jesus dont let him near the machine

GangGang (10:48 a.m.): be there in 5   
(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

Best Bro™ (10:48 a.m.): lord have mercy

Bo$$man (10:49 a.m.): I'm counting on you, Yangyang. I have class in a few minutes and will be back for my lunch break shift. 」

Lucas raises an eyebrow as he scrolls through the countless follow-up texts until he reaches the bottom of the chat.

「 GangGang (11:38 a.m): KUN HENDRY LCUAS WHRE TF R U GUYS

GangGang (11:40 a.m.): ITS NOT STOPOJNG HELP

Best Bro™ (11:40 a.m.): what have u done 

Best Bro™ (11:40 a.m.): also im still in class

Best Bro™ (11:42 a.m.): yangyang u ok bro?

Best Bro™ (11:43 a.m.): should i call kun or an ambulance

Best Bro™ (11:46 a.m.): class is done im coming over pls dont die

Best Bro™ (11:46 a.m.): i wouldnt knwo how 2 break it 2 xiaojun 」

Lucas is suddenly worried. It's not like Yangyang to leave texts unanswered. 

He gets up and quickly exits the classroom, his friends are way more important than this deadend class anyways.   
He hurries across the campus and on his way runs into a nervous-looking Kun. 

"Oh hey! Did you read the chat?", Lucas asks. Kun nods and they sprint over to the coffee shop. 

Once they open the door, they're confronted with an insane mess. Hendery is struggling with the berserk espresso machine which is spilling brown slobber everywhere and Yangyang sits in the corner, face on his knees, covered in coffee and dirt. 

"WHAT. THE. FUCK", Kun yells in total shock, "WHAT HAPPENED HERE??" 

Yangyang sobs and Hendery screams back: "Yangyang tried to fix it but it just got worse! We have to put it down", he adds and grabs the baseball bat from underneath the counter. 

Before Kun and Lucas can stop him, he starts hitting the machine until it's irreversibly totaled. "Why did you do that, bro?", Lucas asks confused while Kun just covers his face with his hands. 

Hendery catches his breath and explains: "There was no damn way to fix that thing anymore, it was too far gone. Sorry bro", he adds looking over at Yangyang. 

Kun just sighs. "This...this is fine. We'll just get a new one. More importantly, Yangyang, are you alright?", he asks genuinely concerned and kneels down next to the younger boy. 

Lucas squats down next to him and pats his shoulder calmingly. Yangyang lifts his head up and it's obvious that he has been crying. 

"I'm sorry, Kun", he sobs, "I thought I could do it but..." 

"Hey, hey, it's fine. Now let's clean this mess up, alright? It doesn't look like there will be customers any time soon anyways", Kun says maternally and gets up to grab the cleaning supplies from the storage room.

Since there's only three customers before 1 p.m., cleaning up goes rather smoothly (except for Lucas tripping over the mop breaking it in the process) and soon enough, the coffee shop is more or less back to normal. 

"Rest in pieces", Kun says looking down on the remains of the espresso machine in the new trash can he "borrowed" from one of his classrooms, "you've served us well."

"Meh", Hendery says and tilts his head, "it's always kinda been a piece of shit." 

Lucas and Yangyang nod in agreement. Kun sighs and smiles warmly. "I'll go search for a new one, but we really don't have the hugest budget-" 

"Don't worry!", Yangyang chimes in, "I have a great idea. We can have a bake sale on campus to collect the money we need!" 

Lucas' eyes light up and he excitedly yells: "Hell yeah! And if we make more than we need, we can buy stuff for our redecorating event on the weekend!" 

Kun and Hendery happily nod in agreement. "Let's do it! And let's also ask Xiaojun and Ten for support!"

✧

After an exhausting day of uni and work, Lucas lets himself fall on the couch in the tiny apartment he shares with Hendery and Yangyang. 

The latter isn't home yet (he pretty much always stays at Xiaojun's anyways) and the former is currently in the shower.   
Lucas turns on some music and checks his phone. The friend group's chat is quite busy.

「 Bo$$man (6:23 p.m.): Hey everyone. We were thinking of having a bake sale on campus in two days. It would be lovely if everyone could help somehow, we need several cakes and posters to put up around uni. Thanks!

GangGang (6:24 p.m.): Junjun and I can bake killer brownies (ㆁωㆁ*)

Eleven (6:24 p.m.): I can draw a poster, Kun can you run to the copy shop for me?

Bo$$man (6:25 p.m.): Sure thing. 

EyebrowMaster (6:25 p.m.): Yangyang stop flexing with my brownies, you literally never contributed to them

GangGang (6:25 p.m.): why are u texting that we're sitting next to each other bruh

EyebrowMaster (6:26 p.m.): Thought I should let everyone know

Bo$$man (6:26 p.m.): I can bake some pie as well, but we'll probably need a bit more... 」

Lucas decides it's time to write something too.

「 XUXI420 (6:30 p.m.): i can bake something maybe if hendery helps 

Bo$$man (6:30 p.m.): Thank you.

Eleven (6:30 p.m.): Oh we can all go grocery shopping together tomorrow and then bake everything at our place!

Bo$$man (6:31 p.m.): what

GangGang (6:31 p.m.): yay sounds fun (≧∇≦)b

EyebrowMaster (6:32 p.m.): At least Yangyang won't wreck my kitchen this time 」

Lucas looks up as Hendery exits the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. 

"Check your texts, bro", he says and grins. Hendery skeptically raises an eyebrow and produces his phone from his bag.   
Lucas goes back to the group chat.

「 Bo$$man (6:32 p.m.): Ten can we talk about this for a sec

Eleven (6:32 p.m.): ?

XUXI420 (6:32 p.m.): hendery you comin too?

Best Bro™ (6:32 p.m.): ye 

EyebrowMaster (6:32 p.m.): Great, then let's meet at Ten and Kun's tomorrow

Bo$$man (6:32 p.m.): wait

Eleven (6:33 p.m.): it's ok hun, we'll clean up after

Bo$$man (6:33 p.m.): ...

GangGang (6:33 p.m.): we will i swear!

XUXI420 (6:33 p.m.): yup

Bo$$man (6:34 p.m.): ...Alright. Let's close the coffee shop tomorrow and meet at the supermarket at 12. No one has class then, right?

GangGang (6:35 p.m.): I do but it ends at 12, I'll be at the supermarket a lil late ^^; 」

Everyone else confirms the time and Lucas closes his phone.   
Hendery has finished drying his hair and is now dressed in an oversized shirt and boxers. He flops down on the couch next to Lucas and turns on the TV. 

"So like, about that guy yesterday-", he starts, but Lucas jokingly slaps him on the thigh. 

"Bro! Seriously? Let's just forget about that, he probably won't be back anyways", he replies and shakes his head. 

Hendery shrugs and gets up to get a popsicle from the understocked freezer.   
"I hope he does", he says and unwraps the frosty treat, "I wanna see you struggle with pick-up lines again."

✧

At 8 a.m. the next morning, Lucas' alarm clock decides to audibly assault him.   
He groans and slaps it off the nightstand.  
Apparently he forgot to turn off the regular alarm last night. 

"Uuuuuughhhhhhhhh..." He sits up in his bed and hears Hendery in the next room struggle with the same problem - only way louder. 

"Oh my GOD!", his roommate yells, followed by the sound of plastic breaking. "Oh my god...", he hears again, only this time in a regretful tone. 

He decides to just get up and heads to the kitchen to make coffee. 

"I broke my alarm clock", Hendery says sleepily and steps into the kitchen. Lucas cackles. 

"I heard it, dude. Why are we like this by the way? Forgetting to turn off the alarms, I mean?" Hendery just yawns and that's the only answer he's gonna get. 

Coffee in his hand, Lucas sits down at the table and whips out his phone. Apparently, Kun wants something.

「 Bo$$man (7:29 a.m.): Good morning, Yukhei. I'm sorry I have to ask, but do you think you could swing by the campus tomorrow and help me with putting up the posters for the bakesale? 」

He replies right away.

「 XUXI420 (8:09 a.m.): sure thing bro I can bring hendery too

Bo$$man (8:09 a.m.): Thank you. That would be nice. 」

Lucas and Hendery arrive on campus just in time, but Kun is nowhere to be found.   
They decide to just wait in front of the coffee shop. 

Lucas is on his phone playing an idle game, when Hendery excitedly taps his shoulder. "Yo! Bro, look who's here!", he whispers with a huge grin. 

Lucas looks up and there he is: Sicheng, who is standing approximately 20 meters away from them. He looks around nervously and then makes his way to- 

"He's coming this way! Put your phone away and say something, bro!", Hendery giggles like a 10 year old school girl and pushes his friend forward. Before Lucas can protest, he's standing right in front of a startled looking Sicheng. 

"H-hey, man! Wassup?", Lucas clumsily says. Sicheng anxiously smiles, of course he recognizes him. "Hi", he greets back, "is the coffee shop open?" 

"Ah, no... We're closed today."   
Sicheng blinks. "Oh, okay", he says, "guess I'll just go to Stärbucks then..." 

"Sorry, man", Lucas apologizes for no reason.   
Then, a burning question enters his mind. "Yo! The cup I gave you yesterday - was there anything weird about it?" 

Sicheng tilts his head as if he's thinking super hard. "Not that I remember... I chugged my coffee and then threw it away immediately." 

Lucas lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the Holy Kun..." 

"What?" 

"What?" 

"Uh, I guess I'll go", Sicheng smiles and politely says goodbye to him and Hendery.

As soon as he disappears through the front gate, Hendery bursts into laughter. "OH MY GOD, LUCAS! What was that conversation? If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is like straight out of a shitty Netflix rom-com", he cackles. 

"Aww man... I don't know, my brain just goes mushy when I talk to him...", Lucas replies and scratches his head in embarrassment.


	3. The Amsterdam Business Model

Kun arrives shortly after and he seems a little stressed and out of breath. 

"Sorry I'm late, guys, but I had to copy the posters first and there was an old lady at the copy shop who held up EVERYTHING", he pants and hands Lucas and Hendery a huge stash of posters each. 

"Whoa! We can cover the entire campus in these, Kun", Hendery jokes. 

"That's the point, isn't it?", Kun replies dead serious. 

Hendery and Lucas exchange worried glances. "Alrighty, I'll take the main building, Lucas, you take the outside, and Hendery, you run around between faculties." 

"Why do I gotta run?", Hendery tries to protest, but Kun ignores him and heads to the main building to plaster it in posters.

A little later than they anticipated, they meet up again at the coffee shop.   
"You put all of them up?", Kun asks and the other two nod. Kun gives them a thumbs up and the three of them make their way to the supermarket, where they run into Ten and Xiaojun. 

They decide to enter the store already and a bit later, Yangyang finds them in the hygiene isle. 

Grocery shopping goes rather smoothly, except for Hendery insisting they need to put coke into at least one cake batter just to see what happens. 

Outside the supermarket, they pack the ingredients into their backpacks (Hendery has some trouble cramming his coke bottle in) and head over to Kun and Ten's place, still much to Kun's dismay.

"Okay, guys, couple things before we start. First, everything except for kitchen and bathroom is off limits - I dont want flour on the rugs. Second, we can fit three baking trays in the oven at the same time, so we'll split up into three baking teams. And third, lets have fun with this! It's for the coffee shop's sake after all", Kun says when they arrive at his and Ten's apartment. 

Everyone nods happily and Lucas excitedly yells: "Hell yeah!"

After Kun and Ten, Xiaojun and Yangyang and Lucas and Hendery have paired up, the gang immediately gets on baking. 

Some minor inconveniences occur (Hendery's coke experiment backfires, leaving them with more of a dough soup so they have no choice but to redo the batter, and Yangyang accidentally flour bombs the kitchen giving Kun a small mental breakdown), but the cakes land safely in the oven. 

"Okay", Kun pants, swiping up the rogue flour, "now we gotta wait." 

"We can discuss our redecorating event", Ten instantly chimes in, "I got a TON of ideas. First, wallpaper. I took this catalog from work today-" And he slaps a thick booklet on the kitchen table. 

"Thank god you're an interior designer", Yangyang remarks cheerfully, "that's also like the gayest job ever, haha!" Ten stares him down and quickly flips through the catalog. 

"This one I thought was nice", he says and stops around the middle of the booklet. Everyone leans in to take a peek. 

"It's...very cute, Ten...", Kun carefully starts.

"It's...very...VERY", Hendery voices his opinion. 

Lucas and Xiaojun's faces are literal question marks and Yangyang just bursts into laughter.   
"What the hell is THAT?? We're not a gay bar, we're a coffee shop!" 

Ten looks up, seemingly taken aback. "You don't like it? Hella surprising, but no problem, I got more options." 

After half an hour of window shopping, Kun points to a sample and exclaims: "I want that. And no discussions, we're taking that."

The others stare for a while. It's quite the adorable wallpaper: the base color is pastel yellow and there are little orange and pink cat paw prints all over it.

"Y-you want that? Sure?", Ten surprisedly asks and Kun nods, allowing no further arguments.   
Ten shrugs happily and puts his catalog on the kitchen counter. 

"Great. Next, decorations. Your plants are rotting, guys, so we'll just get you some fake plants. Leave that to me", he says and gives them a perfect smile, "And now, we need to actually name the coffee shop. Any ideas?"

The baristas all look at each other, their expressions blank.   
"Uuuuh...", Hendery tries, "how about 'Weed Shop'?" 

Kun looks at him as if he had just killed someone. "Do you want us to get arrested that badly?", he asks, worryingly calm. 

"I bet that would attract more customers, it's on a university campus, after all", Hendery thinks out loud. 

Kun speechlessly looks at Lucas and Yangyang, then back to Hendery.   
"You gotta be kidding me", he says, but Hendery shakes his head. 

"Dead serious. We could even sell homemade weed products there, like in coffee shops in Amsterdam. I mean, seriously, traditional coffee shops aren't exactly the future!   
Who even goes to coffee shops anymore and actually buys the overprized drinks? Everyone has a coffee machine at home and the benefit from using those far exceeds that of going to a coffee shop everyday!   
Let's face it, people, we need to find a hole in the market and exploit the shit out of it if we want to make it big in the industry.   
So I say, let's build a weed farm, or just use mine, and sell everything we can at the coffee shop: from joints to brownies, special coffee mixes and cookies! Who's with me?"

The room has fallen completely silent. Lucas slowly raises his hand, but Kun slaps it and he lowers it again. 

"I...I don't even know where to start", Kun says slowly and shakes his head in disbelief, "there was so much wrong with everything you just said."

The others just giggle or shake their heads. 

"Aw man", Hendery says and rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment, "I waisted my annual big monologue on something like this..." 

Lucas hugs him in a bro-like fashion and laughs. "I think you did well, man!", he says way too loudly and now even Kun smiles warmly. 

"Hendery, darling, weed is illegal here", Ten throws in, "maybe you shouldn't go around telling people about your weed farm."

Hendery is visibly shocked and nods silently. "Illegal, really? Wow... But it's so harmless compared to alcohol or nicotine... Eh whatever, if you say so, Ten..."

The rest of the baking session, they play Monopoly (which Kun ALWAYS wins) and try to come up with something other than "weed shop" as a name. It doesn't work.

When the first cakes are done, they get on making the second and third batches and Hendery reads up on coke in cake only to find out that it INDEED works, he just put in way too much the first time.

✧

"How's it going here?", Kun asks Lucas and Hendery the next day at 11 a.m. They don't have class yet, so they're the first sales shift at the bake sale.

"Meh", Hendery says, "I think we made a little too many cakes yesterday. We sold like one and a third so far."

Kun blinks. "That's actually not bad though, the most customers will come during lunchbreak anyways. Good luck you two! I'll be here for my shift in two hours."

Hendery and Lucas wave him goodbye and get back to the cake.  
Just when Lucas is cutting into the apple pie, Hendery excitedly taps his shoulder.

"Oh my god, guess what."

"What, bro?", Lucas asks, eyes firmly on the pie. 

"He's here", Hendery chirps ominously, "let's call him!"

Before Lucas can even see who Hendery is talking about (even though he has a pretty good idea), his bro yells: "Yo! Sicheng! Want some cake?"

"Dude!", Lucas whispers and looks up, only to see Sicheng directly in front of them. Still asking himself why Hendery yelled at him then, he says: "Hey man, wassup!"

Sicheng smiles and greets back. Way too adorable. "You're Lucas, right? And you are..."

"Hendery", Hendery says.

"Hi. Can I get uhhh, some apple pie?", Sicheng asks and Lucas instantly hands him the piece he just cut.

"Here ya go!", he grins, and since he doesn't want Sicheng to go yet, but doesn't know what to say, he just says: "Wanna see how I win against Hendery at rock-paper-scissors?"

Confused, Sicheng looks from Lucas to Hendery and back to Lucas. "Uhh, sure...? Here's your money by the way...", he answers and hands Lucas the cash.

Hendery looks at his homie as if to say "wtf is the plan here?" and Lucas secretly makes the "Scissors" gesture at him. Hendery nods to confirm and together they yell: "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Hendery holds up Paper and Lucas Rock.

"Bruh", Hendery says. Lucas lets out a frustrated scream and drops to the floor.

However, Sicheng giggles adorably and Lucas gets back up, a bit surprised and pretty embarrassed. 

"You should've seen the look on your face when he played Paper!", Sicheng laughs and Lucas' heart feels dangerously close to exploding. 

"By the way, the pie is great! I might come back later for another piece...", Sicheng adds and waves goodbye, "I gotta go now tho, class starts in... in negative three minutes... Bye, Lucas!"  
And he hurries off.

"Sorry bro", Hendery says, "I thought you meant that you wanted to do Scissors, so I played Paper..." Lucas smiles and slaps him on the shoulder. "Iss okay, man. It was just a misunderstanding~"

Hendery shrugs and says with a sly grin: "You gotta try and get his number the next time you see him! Seriously, I can see you two together!"  
Lucas blushes a little, something very uncommon for the certified bad boy™. "Really, bro?"   
Hendery nods super fast and Lucas spends the rest of his shift thinking about Sicheng.

✧

About an hour later, it's time for his economics class, or as he calls it: "nap time".  
As he enters the classroom, he notices something's different: his seat is taken. It's taken by none other than Sicheng.

"Oh hi!", he cheerfully greets the older boy, "whacha doin' here? I've never seen you in this class before!"  
Sicheng smiles happily when he recognizes Lucas. "Long time no see", he jokingly says, "I just transferred to this class because my old professor was a dick."

Lucas nods respectfully and places himself next to Sicheng, not mentioning that he's in the wrong seat. "It's fine if I sit here, right?", he asks rhetorically just to confirm and Sicheng nods. 

"Today is an awesome day", Lucas giddily thinks to himself and smiles blissfully.

The whole lecture they make fun of the textbook's graphics and play Tic-Tac-Toe on the table. Near the end of class, Sicheng whispers: "Aw man, I'm so behind on this stuff... We really didn't learn ANYTHING in my previous class."

Lucas instantly sees his chance. "Yo, I could help you catch up if you wanna!", he says with a huge grin.

Sicheng looks up, a little startled. "Y-you mean, like tutoring?"

Lucas thinks for a second, then nods happily. "Here, I can give you my number so you can text me in case you want that!" And he holds open his hand for Sicheng to give him his phone.

The other boy hesitates for a bit, then hands Lucas his phone. The case is decorated with little panda stickers and rhinestones. 

"AWW, how cute!!", Lucas exclaims when he sees it and Sicheng blushes, seemingly a bit embarrassed. Lucas quickly types in his number and saves it.

"There ya go! See you tomorrow!", he says as the clock strikes 1 p.m., signaling the end of the lecture. He gets up and leaves before everyone else, a little skip in his step.


	4. Two Dummies in their Natural Habitat

"You HUH?!", Hendery yells when Lucas breaks the good news to him back at their apartment, "That's amazing, bro! But hang on-", he pauses to think, "did you ever pay attention in that class? Like, do you know any topics you had this semester?"

Lucas tilts his head. "Uhhh... Does that matter?"

Hendery looks at him with a blank expression. "Yes...?"

Hendery shakes his head in disbelief: the other doesn't even realize that he can't exactly be a tutor if he knows less than the one he's supposed to be tutoring.  
He lets it slide however, seeing his best friend so happy makes him happy in return.

"Well, I guess we can study together then!", Lucas cheerfully replies. Nothing could bring his mood down right now. Nothing except the fact that Sicheng hasn't texted him yet.

He decides to check his phone again. The only new messages are from the friends' group chat:

「 Bo$$man (6.43 p.m.): The bake sale went very well, everyone! We made more than enough money and we can definitely spend some on redecorating the shop. I already ordered a new state-of-the-art espresso machine. Thank you everyone for your help!!

GangGang (6.43 p.m.): yasssss (≧▽≦)

EyebrowMaster (6.43 p.m.): Good job, everyone!

Eleven (6.44 p.m.): And thanks to the clean up party too~

XUXI420 (6.44 p.m.): big yay from hendery and me! 」

Lucas finds his thoughts drifting back to Sicheng. He really hopes he'll text soon.

✧

A couple days later during their redecorating event it finally happens.   
Lucas' phone buzzes while he's elbows deep in a bucket full of wallpaper paste.   
He groans and decides to just check it after they've glued on the new wallpaper Ten brought.

When the wallpaper is up, Kun practically squeals with joy. "This is sooo cute, Ten! You did such a good job with the design!"

Hendery, Yangyang, Lucas and Xiaojun look up surprisedly. "Wait, Ten designed this?", Yangyang asks and looks at the older boy with admiration. 

"Yup, that's why I wanted it!", Kun answers for his boyfriend, "he's such a capable artist, isn't he?" Ten grins proudly and hugs him.  
Everyone nods and cheers for the new wallpaper.

"Good, now we need to put up those plastic plants. Since Lucas and Hendery basically put the wallpaper up by themselves, you two can take a break", Kun smiles and signals Xiaojun and Yangyang to pick up the potted plastic. "Make sure it's aesthetically pleasing, guys."

"By which standard?", Xiaojun skeptically asks, but he doesn't get any asnwers.

Lucas and Hendery trot outside and sit down on the bench in front of the coffee shop. 

Lucas decides it's now time to check his phone. His heart is about to explode when he opens the newly started conversation:

「 StayWinWinning (1.28 p.m.): Hello, Lucas. It's me, Sicheng~ I tried studying for the semester assignment yesterday, but I really can't wrap my head around anything... I wanna take you up on that tutoring offer, if that's okay (*^_^*) 」

"Oh my GOD HENDERY!", he yells and jumps up and down like a kindergarten child, "he texted meee!"

"For real bro? NICE!", Hendery yells back and they high five.

"Yesss! And he uses those cute little emojis Yangyang always uses, too!", he coos. Suddenly his face becomes very serious. "Yo", he asks and stares Hendery straight into the eyes, "what do I text back? If I fuck this up, he's not gonna talk to me anymore, man!"

"Jeez, since when is the self-proclaimed bad boy™ Lucas so anxious about asking someone out? Didn't you have like, ten boyfriends already?", his bro cackles.

"It was six! And two girlfriends. Even that isn't ten!"

"Well, how did you ask them out?"

"I...I didn't. They always came to me", Lucas says and scratches the back of his head, "And cuz I didn't wanna be mean or something, I always agreed... Turns out I shoulda just said I didn't wanna go out in the first place cuz I ended up hurting them anyway."

"Damn", Hendery says and puts an arm around his shoulder, "but it's different this time, right? You're the one with the crush. You scared of-"

"Rejection, I bet", they hear behind them and turn around. "Xiaojun! How long have you been listening?", Hendery asks and the older boy shrugs. "Since the 'ten boyfriends' part." Lucas puts his head in his hands and Xiaojun sits down next to them.

"Let me give you some advice, Xuxi", he says, "Just go for it. Think, what's the worst that could happen? He rejects you. Sucks, obviously, but it's fine. You know why?   
You can spend the time you'd go after him without confessing getting over it instead. Who knows, you'll probably stay friends anyways since you get along so well."

Lucas furrows his brows, deep in thought. Xiaojun continues: "And the other extreme would be that he feels the same and you get together. Great!   
But let me say this: it's better to confess than not to and just dwell on it for months or years on end. Just do it, Nike been saying it for years and they're so right.   
Be honest with your feelings, like you normally are, you should know that best of everyone! You're Xuxi, damn it!  
It's your call tho", he adds at the end of his speech and smiles, seemingly satisfied.

Hendery looks at him with his jaw on the floor. "Who are you that you are so wise?", he asks, "Tell us your secrets, oh mighty Dejun!"

Xiaojun chuckles. "Well, you could say I have some experience. Contrary to popular belief, I was actually the one who asked Yangyang out, not the other way round."

Now Hendery and Lucas are completely speechless. Just for a second tho. "FOR REAL?!", Lucas exclaims, visibly shocked, "Oh my god I always thought Yangyang kept annoying you until you said yes or something..."

"Anyways", Xiaojun cuts him off before it can get any weirder, "you gonna text him or what?"

"I mean, yeah, he just asked me about the whole tutoring thing, but I'm afraid I can't keep my feelings locked away any longer every time I see him...   
So what if I confess on accident while we study??"

"Did you fucking listen to a single word I just said."

"Aw maaan, don't be mad, Xiaojun, I listened! But still..."

Xiaojun sighs. "Take your time to think about this, bro. Just...remember what I said, okay?"

Lucas nods happily and hugs his smaller friend. "Thanks, man! You're like a wise kinda wizard or something!"

Xiaojun smiles softly and hurries back inside to help with the plants again.

"Okay", Lucas yells and whips out his phone again, "let's do this."

「 XUXI420 (1.56 p.m.): yeah sure, no problem! 」

Not even a minute later an answers appears: 

「 StayWinWinning (1.56 p.m.): Cool. Let's meet at my place, when r u free?

XUXI420 (1.57 p.m.): idk like 3? gotta help out at the coffee shop

StayWinWinning (1.57 p.m.): I could pick you up at 3, my classes are over then 」

Lucas' heart pounds louder and louder as he types his answer, Hendery looking over his shoulder:

「 XUXI420 (1.58 p.m.): let's do that! see ya then! 」

He exhales slowly and turns to Hendery. "I'm going to see his house, dude. It's gonna be all cutesy I bet!"

Hendery rolls his eyes. "Or it's a manhole where he lives with his lizard roommates!", he suggests.

"Stopppp nooo!", Lucas laughs and boxes him on the shoulder. They both burst out laughing and spend the rest of the redecorating event speculating about Sicheng's living situation.

When the blonde boy comes by the coffee shop an hour later, Lucas greets him with the biggest smile. "Hi, Sicheng! I'll be done in a sec, okay?"   
The smaller boy nods and smiles. "I'll wait outside."

"Kun, bossman, I gotta run!", Lucas yells.   
"Fine, I guess... We're pretty much done here anyways", Kun says, "See you tomorrow!"  
Lucas happily says goodbye and joins Sicheng outside.

"Soo, where do you live, Sicheng?", Lucas asks. "Just a couple blocks away", the older boy replies, "By the way, my brothers and my mom will probably be home, but I told them not to annoy us."

"Oh, that's cool! How old are your brothers?", Lucas asks genuinely interested.

"Uhh, one is 20, the other is 19. They're mostly chill, but they always get super excited when I have friends over cuz...that doesn't happen much...", Sicheng says and falls silent right after.

Lucas' "cheer up" instincts kick in. He puts an arm around the other's shoulder and ruffles his hair. "Aw, come one man! You're so loveable tho!"

Sicheng's ears turn bright red, which doesn't go unnoticed by Lucas. "U-uhh, thanks... I just have a lot to do, I guess cuz I got uni, work and my brothers..."

Lucas gives him a warm smile. "That's so admirable, dude!"

They keep talking about uni and their incompetent professors until they arrive at Sicheng's house. It's neither cutesy nor a manhole, but it's quite nice with a rather big front porch, where a shirtless young boy is sitting on lawnchair, apparently sunbathing.

He looks up as soon as he sees Sicheng and Lucas approach and yells: "Hey, Sicheng! Who's that?" 

Lucas decides to answer for him: "I'm Yukhei, but call me Lucas! I'm here to help Sicheng study."

The boy takes off his sunglasses and gets up to greet them with a big smile.   
"I'm Chenle, Sicheng's brother! Nice to meet you!"

Lucas smiles at him and Sicheng asks: "Where's Renjun? In his room I guess?"

Chenle nods and immediately turns his attention back to Lucas. "Whoa, you're big! Do you play basketball or somethin'?"

Before Lucas has a chance to answer, the door flies open and a smaller boy steps outside.   
"Lele! It's not polite to ask someone something like this so directly!", he says and gives Chenle The Look™.

"It's rare to see you out of your room, what's the occasion?", Chenle claps back.

"And you? When did your boyfriend wanna come again? Three hours ago?"

"Watch it, you two! You're gonna make him uncomfy", Sicheng cuts in and points to Lucas, "Just...ignore them", he adds and gives his friend an apologetic look.

"Is mom home?", he asks his brothers who shake their heads in sync.  
"She's still at work and said she has a date tonight, so I guess we'll see her tomorrow?", Renjun answers and Sicheng just nods. 

"We'll be in my room studying, so behave, guys", he tells his brothers who roll their eyes and him and Lucas walk up to Sicheng's room.

As soon as Lucas enters, he experiences a huge culture shock.   
The walls are decorated with boyband posters and fashion pages from magazines. In the corner stands a torso mannequin wearing a glamorous gown, there's a sewing machine and a shitton of yarn on the desk and the rest of the room is an unbelievable mess.

Lucas accidentally let's a shocked "whoa" slip out as he looks around the room. Sicheng blushes and hurriedly cleans up some sketches and magazines laying around.

"Well, we're here", Sicheng says, a little embarrassed whilst trying to stash the sketches under his desk.

"Damn, you're busy, huh?", Lucas asks, his eyes glued to the gown.   
"Uhh, yeah... Please don't laugh, but... I kinda wanna be a fashion designer, hence the state of the room", Sicheng mutters and avoids eye contact.

"I'd never laugh at you, man! I think it's amazing! Did you sew this all by yourself??", Lucas says excitedly and touches the fabric, "You do men's clothing too?"

Sicheng looks up, apparently surprised by Lucas' enthusiasm. "I-i never tried it, but I guess I could... By the way, don't tell him I said this, but I always let Chenle model my dresses", he chuckles conspiratorially, "He's probably my number one supporter."

"Oh my god, that's so cute, man!", Lucas says and he really means it.   
Sicheng's ears turn even more red and he quickly changes the subject: "Soo, did you bring your text books? I kinda left mine at uni..."

Lucas blinks, a little bit taken aback by the sudden shift in the conversation. "Uhm... I have mine at home, I never take them with me..."


	5. Let's WinWin This Thing!

"Aw, man...", Sicheng says, fidgeting around with his hoodie sleeves, "what do we do now?"

Lucas doesn't really know either, so he asks: "Well, what CAN we do? Wanna head back to uni and get your books?" 

Sicheng shakes his head. "That sounds bothersome..." After a couple seconds of thought-filled silence, he adds: "We can just try and study with our notes, right?"

Lucas nervously nods. Notes? What notes? He never wrote anything down. Sicheng whips out a binder and flips through it.

"Wow, your handwriting is real nice!", Lucas notices with awe. Sicheng gives him a shy smile. 

Surprisingly enough, they can actually work quite well with Sicheng's notes. Turns out the older boy DOES know way more about the topic than his supposed tutor, but he doesn't seem very bothered by it.

He laughs at all of Lucas' dumb jokes and can't help himself but notice the younger boy's impressive physique when he decides to go shirtless due to lack of an air conditioner.

"You work out?", he asks, pretending very hard not to be looking. "Ah, well, I play basketball", Lucas replies with a fake smile, "I don't like it tho, would rather be a model, ya know?"

"You got the body for it", his friend says only to instantly look at him with a shocked expression.   
"Ah! Sorry... I mean-", he quickly tries to correct himself, but Lucas just chuckles. "Thanks, man!"

After about two hours, Sicheng decides it's been enough studying for one day.   
"I don't wanna anymore~", he sighs and throws his binder on the bed. Lucas loudly agrees and lies down on the carpeted floor.

"Let's get some watermelon", Sicheng suggests, "If my brothers left anything, that is..."  
"Hell yeah!", Lucas yells excitedly and the two of them head downstairs to the kitchen.

There they find Chenle and another boy Lucas doesn't know. "Oh hi, Lucas!", Chenle says cheerfully, "This is my boyfriend, Jisung. He's from Korea, but his parents moved here last year. He has a super cute cat and he's the best at playing Overwatch!"

"Thanks for sharing my personal information", the taller boy says and ruffles Chenle's hair.   
"Nooo, it took me sooo long to get it to stay like that!", the smaller one squeals.

Lucas cheerfully greets the Korean boy and Sicheng just sighs. Apparently this is a common situation in this household. "Did you guys leave some of the watermelon?", he asks his younger brother. 

Chenle frowns. "We wanted to eat that later with Renjun cuz you said you were busy", he whines, then he pauses to think.

"Wait. Let's make a deal. If Jisungie and I can beat you guys at Overwatch, we get the melon. And if you beat us, you get half!"

"Sounds good!", Lucas exclaims, suddenly extremely hyped. He could prove to Sicheng that he was at least good at video games since he already failed proving his knowledge about economics.

"Uhh, alright", Sicheng agrees, "but you know we're gonna kick your asses, right?"

Chenle giggles and gives them a smug grin. "Yeah, sure, have fun beating a Grandmaster", and he nudges his boyfriend's shoulder. 

"I'm actually only Diamon-", Jisung starts but Chenle quickly covers his mouth with his hand. "It's a deal!", he squeals, "We'll go to my room and you can play on Sicheng's potato PC!"

And they hurry away. "Potato PC?", Lucas asks, quite amused by his friend's brother's antics.   
Sicheng nods. "It's REAL bad", he says, "but I also have a really good laptop he doesn't know about", he adds with a sly grin Lucas is pretty surprised to see.

Back up in Sicheng's room, he walks straight over to his closet and pulls out an expensive looking thick laptop.

He hooks it up with the charger and soon they're ready to play.   
"Alright, we'll go one versus one with Widowmaker", he says to his brother over the phone, "I say me versus Jisung and Lucas versus Chenle."

"Okay ~", Chenle replies cheerfully and in the background they can hear Renjun say: "I really want that melon, you better win."

"Do...do you even know how to play?", Sicheng asks Lucas after muting the call. "Oh, yeah! I play with Hendery, Yangyang and Xiaojun all the time! Well, actually only Hendery and Yangyang...", he answers. 

He's super confident. How could those two be better than them? It's not like they have all day to-   
They totally have all day to practice, don't they.

Slightly nervous now, he watches Sicheng create a custom game and pick the agreed upon hero. Since she's a character based purely on aim, Lucas is a tiny bit less confident.

"Any last words?", Sicheng says, only to realize he hasn't unmuted himself in the call yet. A bit embarrassed, he does exactly that and repeats, now way less menacing: "Any last words, you guys?"

"No", Chenle says, contradicting himself in the process.

The first round is Sicheng versus Jisung which Sicheng manages to turn around just in time, ending the duel 30 to 24. 

"Yeeeaaah!", Lucas cheers loudly and they high five, "Good job, man!"   
Sicheng gives him the most adorable little smile.

"Nice username by the way, 'WinWin' ", he adds and grins. Sicheng blushes slightly. "Chenle picked it out for me when he bought me the game", he explains and gets up to give his seat to Lucas.

"Alright! Let's go, Chenle! I won't hold back just because you're younger!", Lucas says full of determination.

He doesn't hold back, yet the round still goes to Chenle by an insane margin. The dolphin laugh of the younger boy destroys their eardrums. "Oh my god! What was THAT?? I just won 30 to 8, what the fuck!"

"I heard it", Renjun replies, extremely annoyed.

"Aw man, I'm sorry", Lucas says genuinely embarrassed, "I haven't really played the hero, like, ever..."

Sicheng instantly jumps on that: "Hey, Chenle, you heard that? No wonder you won, the fight was never fair in the first place!"

"Uh... What's your main, Lucas?", the younger now asks a bit flustered.

"I mostly play Lúcio and Mercy, man!"

"Oh, you're a healer?!"

"Yeah!"

Silence. Then Chenle decides: "Well, uhh, since both of us won one round, let's just get half a melon each..."

"Okayyy!", Lucas happily yells and they all hurry off to the kitchen again.

Once everyone is cheerfully munching their melon pieces, Jisung says: "Good game, everyone. And Lucas, don't worry, I bet you're a great healer."

"I am! I got to Master last season with mostly Lúcio!", Lucas proudly announces.

"Whoaaa, for real? You're ranked higher than us then", Chenle gasps.

They spend the rest of the afternoon chatting, laughing and making ice cream from cherries they pick in the huge garden.

"This is great! I should bring some to the guys from the coffee shop, I know Hendery's gonna love it", Lucas grins once it's ready to taste.

Sicheng gives him some side eye, but doesn't say anything.  
It's Chenle who blurts out what everyone is thinking: "Is Hendery your boyfriend??"

Taken aback by this question, Lucas' jaw drops. Jisung hits Chenle on the upper arm and whispers (unfortunately not silently enough): "You can't just ask that! You don't even know if he's gay!"

Deafening silence falls over the room.  
"Uhhhhh, well, uhm...", Lucas tries to communicate, but Renjun jumps in: "Way to kill the mood, Chenle."

"Sorry sorry sorry!", his brother quickly apologizes and hands their guest a cooler with ice cream, "Take this to your... friend as an apology..."

Lucas slowly nods and announces: "Well, this is awkward. I also just got a message from my boss, sooo I gotta go. Sorry and thanks for having me, guys!"

Everyone timidly says goodbye and once Lucas leaves the kitchen, he can hear Renjun and Jisung scolding Chenle.

✧

"It was WILD", Lucas says later that day when he's home with Hendery, Yangyang and Xiaojun.

Xiaojun dramatically rolls his eyes. "You're overreacting, he just asked a pretty understandable question."

"Is it really that understandable to ask if I'm Hendery's boyfriend?"

"Bitch, you wish", his best friend yells from over on the couch and giggles.

"I guess, you two always hang out together, mostly have the same classes, live together...", Yangyang thinks out loud, "And you TOTALLY overreacted! Poor Sicheng, man!"

Lucas blinks. "W-why? Did I do something bad to him?"

Xiaojun and Yangyang simultaneously face plant in their dinner.   
"BRO! You're such a dummy sometimes!   
You made it look like you are dating Hendery and that you're closeted, and it's so obvious Sicheng wants something from you because no one in their right mind would ask YOU to tutor them! So you totally hurt his feelings!"

"Or that you aren't dating him but are homophobic cuz you ran away! So anyway, you totally hurt his feelings!", Xiaojun adds to Yangyang's speech.

Lucas' jaw drops. "No way!", he exclaims, "But none of those are right! I just panicked because... I can't just tell him I like him in front of his brothers, right?"

The others exchange unsure glances and Hendery says: "However that may be, we gotta fix this! You should text him. And we're here to double check what you wrote."

Lucas nods and flashes a weak smile. Him, Yangyang and Xiaojun walk over to Hendery's couch and sit down next to him.

Lucas whips out his phone and opens the conversation with Sicheng.

"I'll write that I'm sorry and that I'm not dating Hendery and that I just panicked and... Ughhh I don't know!"

Yangyang snatches the phone out of his hand. "I'll be taking this, before you hurt yourself."

Lucas doesn't even try to protest and sighs. He's so blessed to have friends like them, honestly.

"Alright, everything you said should definitely be included. But you should also tell him how you feel! About him, I mean. You do like him, don't you?", Xiaojun says, eyebrows raised.

"Yes!"

"And you can see yourself in a relationship with him, can't you?"

"Yes!!"

"Good! Then tell him that because he definitely likes you back! Trust me, I'm wise."

Hendery excitedly nods. "Your boyfriend is a wise wizard, Yangyang. Treasure him."

Yangyang blinks and laughs: "I DO treasure him, my little Xiao-Mage~

Lucas nods as if to reassure himself that this was going to be fine. Yangyang hands him the phone again and he starts typing:

「 XUXI420 (7:03 p.m.): Hey Sicheng. I'm sorry I left so suddenly today, I guess I just panicked? 

Just to be clear, I'm not dating Hendery and I don't really know if I'm gay. I just know that I like you, and I couldn't just tell you that in front of your family. 

I understand if you don't wanna talk to me anymore, but I'm honestly super sorry! 」

Before sending the message, he shows it to his homies who all confirm its quality. 

He presses "send" with trembling fingers and chucks his phone across the room tight after with a panicked scream.

"Oh my god, I did it!"

"You sure did... I hope your phone isn't broken, dude", Hendery says and shuffles over to the corner to retrieve it.  
"It's fine!"

"Good. Now we wait for an answer. Also by the way, isn't that weird field trip tomorrow? You know, for economics students?", Yangyang says and nudges Lucas' elbow. 

"Oh yeah! You mean-", he pauses to think and then continues: "You mean I can talk to him then?"

Yangyang happily nods and adds: "Kun and Junjun should be there too, so you'll have back up, don't worry!"

"You have economics too?", Lucas asks Xiaojun.

"Yeah, the Wednesday course."

"Do you know where we're going tomorrow?"

Xiaojun tilts his head. "You forgot? Or were you napping when they announced it?"

Lucas rubs the back of his neck and laughs nervously. "Probably napping..."

Xiaojun sighs and says: "We're going to the amusement park, man! Even though I honestly don't know what that has to do with economics... Probably some kinda morale boost..."

Lucas' eyes light up with joy. "Really?? That's amazing!"

"Don't forget, you gotta tell him how you feel."


	6. So Cliché. I love it!

"Let's go! You ready, Lucas?", Xiaojun says, more authoritative than usual. He has spent the night in Yangyang's room and he's up way too early.

"I'm coming! Be right there", Lucas yells from the bathroom.

He and Hendery are trying to make his hair look absolutely breathtaking which is currently going so-so.

"Oh my god, I swear if you don't come out in two minutes, I'm shaving your head!"

Thoroughly threatened, Lucas quickly joins Xiaojun at the door. 

"Chill, man... I gotta look good today!", he mumbles and Xiaojun just rolls his eyes.

"You ALWAYS look good", he says, "You're incapable of looking bad. Trust me."

Lucas gives him the biggest smile and they quickly head out to join Kun at the bus stop.

"What's up, bro!", Lucas cheerfully greets his older friend.

"Hello, guys", Kun says and winks at them, "I heard we have a big mission today?"

Xiaojun nods. "I texted you the details."

"So did Yangyang... And Hendery. Y'all should really communicate better."

"Wait, you guys filled him in already? Oh man...", Lucas says and looks to the ground.

"Don't worry!", Kun exclaims, more motivated than they've ever seen him, "We're gonna get you that man!"

"Any way to say that in a less menacing way?", Xiaojun cackles right as the bus arrives. They board it and arrive at the theme park just in time.

"Where are the othersss", Xiaojun says (mainly to himself) whilst looking around for familiar faces.

He finds them, but they're not the ones he expected to see.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?!", he yells at Yangyang, Hendery and Ten who are hiding behind a single newspaper, looking like something straight out of a bad spy movie.

When they're called out, they try to look as innocent as possible. "We wouldn't miss this for the world", Yangyang explains, "Xuxi's first real confession... Oh my ~"   
And he pretends to swoon. 

Lucas can't help but laugh. "You guys know that you have to pay the entrance fee though, right?"

They nod in sync and Xiaojun thinks of something else: "How the fuck did you get here, Hendery and Yangyang?"

"Ten picked us up with his car when you were already gone", he explains and grins happily.

Kun suddenly notices his course standing at the entrance of the amusement park. 

"Come on, guys!", he exclaims, "let's get it."

✧

Once through the busy entrance area, Lucas' group has found Sicheng. He's walking around alone, seemingly aimless.

"Aw, I bet he got lost ~", Lucas coos with a worried expression, "I should go help him!"

"No, wait!", Hendery hisses, "You don't have a plan yet. He left you on read yesterday, right? We need some kinda strategy here."

Everyone nods and they huddle together in a circle. 

"Okay. I say we watch him for a while and then decide how Lucas will approach him."

"No, let's just face it head on!"

"No way! We'll get some cotton candy first and then talk to him!"

"You just want cotton candy..."

"Lucas?"

They all look up instantly only to be confronted with Sicheng's slightly worried and very confused face.

"Uhh, uh... Hi, Sicheng", Lucas stutters, face bright red.

His friends turn around and act like they have nothing to do with this.

"Hi... Are you here for the field trip too?", he asks sheepishly, knowing full well that he is.

"Uh, yeah..."

Awkward silence ensues.  
Then Sicheng says: "I...I gotta find my group..." And he shuffles away.

Hendery is the first one to say something: "Ouch, bro."

"Give him some more time...", Ten says and pats Lucas' shoulder, "We'll be right behind you."

Lucas thinks for a second, then he pushes Ten's hand away. "No. I have to do this on my own", he says with determination, "Thank you guys for all your help! Genuinely. But I'll have to talk to him by myself."

Everyone nods ceremoniosly and Xiaojun says: "Good. Now go, he's almost out of sight. Otherwise you'll have to look for him all day."

Lucas says goodbye with the biggest smile and swirls around to follow Sicheng who is currently heading towards the ferris wheel with some people from their course.

"Hey, Sicheng! Wait up!", he yells.

Just in time, he manages to board one of the cabins together with the blonde boy. They're finally alone.

"Phew", he gasps, "you're fast, man..."

"Lucas?! What-", Sicheng starts, but Lucas cuts him off to pour his heart out.

"Sicheng. Since you read my text, you should know already, but I'll tell you again in person because it's important you hear these words coming outta my mouth." 

He takes a deep breath and says, with more certainty than ever before: "I like you. I really do. I think you're a fucking ray of sunshine and I couldn't ever forgive myself if I didn't confess to you.   
So yes, that's how I feel. And I'm sorry for just walking out yesterday, I really just panicked because I like you so damn much!"

He takes a deep breath and sinks back into his seat. He did it. He finally did it. There is no turning back now. And it feels great, as if this huge weight has been lifted off his chest.

Sicheng sits across from him, face flushed and tries his best to avoid eye contact.  
He doesn't know how to say what he so dearly wants to say. Not a single word leaves his lips. And they're stuck together on a ferris wheel. 

Needless to say, Sicheng is freaking out.

"You okay?", Lucas asks and Sicheng can feel his mouth getting dry.

"I-"

"I'm sorry if this is so sudden, but I've been feeling this way ever since I saw you... It's okay if you...don't feel the same way-"

"That's not it!", the smaller boy blurts out, "I like you too-"   
Realizing what he just said, he quickly covers his mouth with his hands.

Lucas looks at him, eyes wide open. "Y-you do?"

Sicheng's ear turn bright red and tears start forming in his eyes.  
"I- I think so... It's just that- I'm scared, of what everyone will think if they find out that I'm-"

Lucas' heart almost breaks when he sees him sit in front of him, teary-eyed and scared. He gets up and sits down next to him, taking the smaller boy into his arms.

Sicheng flinches at Lucas' touch, but doesn't try to get out of his embrace.

"It's fine, man. Who cares what other people think?"

There they are. The words Sicheng so desperately needed to hear. He feels tears streaming down his face and puts his head on Lucas' shoulder.

"I mean, your brother doesn't care, and look how happy he is! And my friends don't care either, and look how happy they are. Just...be yourself man, that's when you'll be the happiest, you know?"

Lucas pauses, a bit embarrassed. "If- if that made any sense..."

Sicheng can't hold back anymore amd he starts sobbing. Lucas pats his head and whispers: "Hey, hey. It's okay, man. It's okay."

The other lifts his head, tears on his cheeks and a huge smile on his face. "Thank you. I mean it." 

And he presses his soft lips onto Lucas'.

Although taken aback by the sudden gesture, the younger boy leans in and kisses back, his heart feeling dangerously close to exploding.

They break up the kiss to catch their breath.  
"...Wow", Lucas just says and Sicheng looks a bit embarrassed. "Sorry if that was sudden", he mutters, but Lucas just softly grabs his chin and pulls him in for another kiss.

✧

When they exit the ferris wheel five minutes later, the gang is sitting on a bench, anticipating whatever Lucas will have to say about the events on the theme park ride.

Once they see him step outside, holding hands with Sicheng, Xiaojun just says: "I don't know how this chaotic boy managed to get himself a boyfriend, but I sure am glad he did."

Everyone nods and Kun adds: "Agreed. Let's get outta here before they see us tho, I think we should leave them to it."

"What? But we paid the whole ass entrance fee!", Yangyang whines.

✧ TWO YEARS LATER ✧

"Yo, babe, did you see? I made it on TV!", Lucas excitedly yells from the living room.

Sicheng rushes over and plops down next to him on the couch. "Seriously? Oh my god... Then that means-"

They look at each other and simultaneously exclaim: "WE WON?!"

The phone rings and Lucas hurries off to get the call. "Yangyang? Did you see?", he almost screams into the speaker.

"Yes, yes, oh my GOD YOU GUYS! I'm so fucking proud of you!"

Lucas lets out a high-pitched squeal (however that's possible) and says: "We'll invite everyone over tonight, tell the others, okay?"

And he ends the call to return to his boyfriend, who is sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the TV. "I can't believe it...", he says and shakes his head.

About an hour later, Yangyang, Hendery, Xiaojun, Ten and Kun stand at their door and Hendery pops a champagne bottle. 

"Congrats!", they yell in unison and make their way inside. 

In the living room, they make themselves comfortable in the living room of the 2-bedroom apartment Lucas and Sicheng rent together and Yangyang whips out a snackbox.

"Anyone want some Goldfish?"

"I think we're gonna need something bigger to celebrate Sicheng and Lucas' first design award win!", Kun says and gets on the phone to order sushi.

He grins happily and Hendery points to the TV: "Oh wow, looking good, Lucas! And you really made this all by yourself, Sicheng? That's dope!"

The flatscreen is currently showing Lucas walking up and down a catwalk, wearing something that can only be described as a suit-dress.

Lucas chuckles and pulls Sicheng closer to him. "He sure did! He even had a handicap of sorts cuz I kept barging in to check on the progress..."

Sicheng laughs and says: "They judges kept telling me that it was an amazing idea, but I never thought we'd win with this... Aaahh, I'm so happy!"

Once the sushi arrives, they stuff their cheeks and keep fangirling about Sicheng's designs, until Yangyang accidentally drops a bombshell: "We could use some of those for the weddin-" 

Xiaojun instantly covers his mouth and gives him the death stare, but it's too late: everyone is staring at them, eyes wide open, and Ten says what everyone is thinking: "The HUH??"

Yangyang and Xiaojun exchange unsure glances and Xiaojun says: "Well, we actually wanted to tell you some other time because today is about Lucas and Sicheng, but since this one here-", he looks at Yangyang, "-can't keep a secret, I guess it's official. We're getting married. In Europe cuz it's legal there."

Everyone starts freaking out and Hendery pops another champagne bottle.   
"You're too cute oh my god", Ten says and they all come together in a big group hug.

"That's fucking fantastic, guys!", Lucas yells and ruffles their hair, "Looks like we stay winning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, it means a lot to me!  
> I'm really sorry if this sucks, it's my first ever real fanfic...
> 
> See you around~!


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